Guest Blogger

In Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates the author, biologist Frans De Waal, explores the evolutionary evidence, studying primate behavior in particular, of morality.  He argues both against a religious orthodoxy and its neo-atheism counterpart, to embrace a view of human morality that is innate within our genetic make-up.  Emotional attachment, from dogs that learn how to fight by playing, to a childs' and bonobes' sense of what's 'fair,' plays a large role in the development of moral standards.  He argues that what separates us from our primate cousins isn't genetics or morality, but our ability to think in abstractions and to apply those abstractions not only to our own behavior, but to others around us.  The book is well-written and organized.  I definitely will be adding it to my bookshelf!  Five stars.  Anonymous.

A Modern Guide to Manners

Would it Kill You to Stop Doing That? by Henry Alford is a pretty fun read.  Bad manners are pretty obvious but I think we’ve all forgotten how to have “good manners.”  This book is all about finding out what good manners look like and how we should all be a bit more civil to each other.  There are a lot of fun examples of what people do wrong, such as missing something important because of interest in the computer or cell phone (an example - an airline pilot overshooting the landing field by 150 miles because he was busy reading a flying manual!)  My favorite pet peeve of a bad manner?  The person who’s shushing is louder than the talking that caused the shushing in the first place.  This book includes sections on how to give advice and how to avoid bad manners that you are not even aware of.  It is a pretty entertaining look about how we can all treat each other better. SG